


An Unexpected Dinner Date

by ericsonclan



Series: Ericson's Diner AU [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Cooking, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23636392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Aasim and Ruby run into each other at the supermarket and end up having dinner together <3
Relationships: Aasim/Ruby (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Ericson's Diner AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688374
Kudos: 3





	An Unexpected Dinner Date

Of all places, he hadn’t expected to run into her at the grocery store.

Aasim craned his neck around the corner of the aisle, hiding behind his shopping cart. Ruby stood about halfway down the aisle, examining the spice section thoughtfully. He’s never seen her without her work apron on before. Seeing her now in pink flannel and jeans, Aasim felt as though he was falling for her all over again. “Falling for her” was a pretty bold term though considering they’d never talked about anything beyond goat cheese and iceberg lettuce. He should just slip away now. He couldn’t risk a conversation with her outside of work; it would simply show what an utter bore he was.

As Aasim pushed his cart forward, one of the back wheels squeaked, betraying him. Ruby turned to see the source of the noise. A smile lit up her face.

“Aasim, is that you?”

“Uh, yeah. Hi, Ruby,” Aasim awkwardly stood by his cart as she made her way over to him.

“I didn’t know you lived around these parts! Why, we just might be neighbors!”

“W-wow. Imagine that,” Aasim kicked his foot against the wheel of his cart. _"Say something to her, man, anything!"_ He was coming up blank. All he was doing was staring at the pretty pink tone of her cheeks. Shit, she was going to think he was a total weirdo!

Ruby glanced inside his shopping cart and gasped. “Is that ALL ramen?”

“Oh, um, yeah. I eat it a lot when I’m busy with work,”

“There must be at least 60 boxes in there!”

Aasim glanced over at his towering pile of ramen. What could he say? It was cheap and affordable. He didn’t like to waste money on luxury food items when the basics served him just fine. “Well, it was on sale, so I figured I might as well stock up, you know, for the future. Ramen never goes bad, so this stuff should last me… pssh, six months easy,” That was a lie. This wouldn’t even last him a month.

Ruby placed her hand on top of Aasim’s on the cart and he felt as though he might faint. “Aasim, please don’t tell me that this is all you’re buying. A man can’t live on ramen alone. You need real food: protein, dairy, vegetables!”<

“I… I don’t know what to do with any of it,”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I don’t know how to cook,”

Ruby tutted in disapproval. “Well, we can’t have that, now can we? You work for Ericson’s Diner. You should know these things!”

“I work as an accountant,”

“Everyone should know how to cook. Now come along,” Ruby grabbed his hand, waving a hand at his mountain of ramen. “We’ll leave that there for someone to put away and start off fresh. Now let’s go grab you a new cart!”

What followed in the next half hour was a thorough perusal of the entire grocery store. Ruby went through all of the basics: fruit, dairy, meats, canned goods, explaining the nutritional value of each and every item she placed in the cart. They picked up snacks, breakfast food, lunch options and plenty of fresh ingredients. When they got to the checkout and Aasim paused at the register, Ruby offered that she could pay for the food if it would help him out. Aasim vehemently rejected the offer, opting instead to buy her own basket of groceries as thanks for her help. As they exited the store, Aasim expected to have a short farewell before they went their separate ways, but Ruby linked arms with him, guiding him along the sidewalk.

“You didn’t drive your car here, did you?”

“No, I only live a few blocks from here. Why?”

“Well, I reckon those groceries we just bought would be a lot handier to you if I offered you a cooking lesson. It’s probably best if we do it at my place seeing as you said your kitchen utensils were pretty minimal,”

That was true. He owned a grand total of one spoon, knife and fork, a plate and a bowl. His kitchen was a veritable wasteland. Still, this offer was a lot to take in, and the feeling of her arm pressing against his was making his heart pound. “I really appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to impose in any way-”

“Nonsense! Meals are always nicer when you’re eating with somebody. My apartment’s only about a ten minute walk from here. It’ll be fun!”

He couldn’t say no when her eyes were crinkling up with such excitement. So they made their way over to Ruby’s place, exchanging small talk alone the way and getting to know a little bit more about each other beyond work. When they arrived at her building, Ruby unlocked the door and gave Aasim a hand with the groceries, helping him tote them up the stairs till they reached her front door on the fourth floor. Aasim’s legs were shaky at this point and his arms felt numb, but he straightened his back and steadied his breathing. No way was he going to complain about a four-flight climb.

“You can drop the bags off there,” Ruby motioned toward the kitchenette. “We’re making spaghetti for dinner,”

Aasim placed down the bags of groceries before helping Ruby with her own. He looked around her apartment, trying to take everything in without looking like he was staring. It was a small place, but cozy. The couch had a knitted blanket thrown over it and the walls were covering with pictures of friends and family. He recognized a group picture from Ericson’s Diner that he’d been pulled into at the last second.

“Make yourself at home. I’ll just put my things away, then we can get started,”

“I can help,” Aasim offered.

Ruby’s face brightened. “That’s right gentlemanly of you, Aasim. Your mama must be proud she raised such a thoughtful son,”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Aasim answered, beginning to place items in the fridge. “I think my parents expected me to be a doctor or a lawyer, but here I am as a lowly accountant. Not really something to brag about,”

“It’s good, honest work. You can’t ask for anything more than that. And Ericson’s would be absolutely sunk if not for you. Why, those first few weeks I had Louis writing me checks for everything by hand without keeping any sort of records on what he was spending. I’m sure we would’ve been out of jobs in a matter of months if we kept going like that,”

“You’re not wrong. Louis is a good guy, but I’m amazed things are going as well as they are considering his management style,”

Ruby chuckled. “We’re all sorta like a big family over there, ain’t we? It may be pretty chaotic most days, but I tell ya, I didn’t expect to find such a wonderful place to work when I moved out here. It really helps this town feel like home,”

Aasim caught himself staring at her again. He coughed as he turned away, grabbing the final refrigeratable goods. “That’s everything,”

“Shall we get started?”

“Lead the way,”

It was Aasim’s first time ever cooking for himself. He was sure he was going to royally mess everything up, but Ruby was such a kind and patient teacher that even when he had slip-ups she turned them into easy fixes. Within minutes the noodles were in the pot set to boil and the onions were diced and ready to be mixed with the ground beef. As they worked, they continued to get to know each other. Aasim learned that Ruby had only moved there a couple months prior, looking for bigger and better things than her tiny home-town could offer her. She asked him how Louis had found him and Aasim shared stories of how he had attended classes with Louis back when they were both getting their undergraduate business degrees. Now he worked part-time as an accountant for various businesses while he pursued his graduate degree in business management.

Time flew by as they talked and dinner was ready before he knew it. They sat down to the meal together, Ruby setting the table neatly before bringing the food out and sitting down across from Aasim. They smiled at each other across the tiny table, continuing to chat as they began to dig in. Aasim’s eyes widened as soon as he took his first bite.

“Wow, this is actually really good! I can’t believe I helped make this!”

Ruby chuckled. “You’re a fast learner,”

“It’s all because I had such a wonderful teacher,”

Ruby’s eyes flitted down demurely. Had he actually delivered a smooth compliment?

“You know,” Ruby said after patting her lips with a napkin, “If you’d like, I could teach you some more easy meals,”

“Really?”

“Of course! This was a boatload of fun, and you live nearby enough that it would be easy for us to meet up, say once a week, and do this again. Next time we should do it at your place though,”

“Oh, uh,” Aasim didn’t want her to see his place. There was literally nothing there. It wouldn’t be the same warm, welcoming environment that her place had been for him.

Ruby’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have any cooking utensils yet!” She shrugged. “We’ll just have to go shopping together again once our next paychecks come in,” She paused. “That is, if it’s alright with you. I don’t want to go telling you how to spend your money,"

Aasim smiled. “That would be fantastic. It’s high time I get some proper cooking equipment and stop treating my kitchen like it’s part of a college dormitory,”

“To our next shopping adventure then!” Ruby declared, lifting her glass in the air. They clinked their glasses softly, chuckling as they did so. Aasim snuck a glance over at Ruby as she served herself more salad. He couldn’t believe this. He had just happened to run into Ruby on his monthly food run, and now they were planning to have weekly cooking dates? He wasn’t fully convinced that this wasn’t all some sort of crazy dream his sleep-deprived brain had cooked up.

 _"Not a date though,"_ he reminded himself. For all he knew, Ruby was just doing this to be friendly. She’d probably just as quickly have helped Louis or Mitch if she’d run into them at the store. Hell, for all he knew she’d seen cooking with him the same way she viewed cooking with Omar for work every day. Still, there was hope. A bright light of opportunity where only a glimmer had existed before. Maybe, just maybe, this could turn into something more.

He couldn’t wait to find out.


End file.
